Springfield Tutor Sentenced to 30 Years for Sexual Abuse of 10-year-old Student
A private tutor who worked in Springfield, Mo., has been sentenced to 30 years in federal prison without parole for sexually assaulting a 10-year-old student.
John Paul Sparapani, 30, of Springfield, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Bough to the maximum statutory penalty for this offense. He was also sentenced to a lifetime of supervised release following incarceration.
The investigation began when an officer with the Southwest Missouri Cyber Crimes Task Force identified Sparapani’s computer as sharing child pornography on a peer-to-peer file-sharing network on May 25, 2015.
Officers executed a search warrant at Sparapani’s residence on Dec. 21, 2015, and seized two laptop computers, three hard drives and a cell phone, which contained multiple images and videos of child pornography.
On August 25, 2017, a 12-year-old minor female disclosed that Sparapani had sexually assaulted her when she was 10 and 11 years old and had taken photographs of the assault with his cell phone.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ami Harshad Miller. It was investigated by the FBI, Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and the Southwest Missouri Cyber Crimes Task Force and the Springfield, Mo., Police Department.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.
Sparapani pleaded guilty on February 21, 2018, to using a minor to produce child pornography.
The 30-year sentence is the maximum statutory penalty for this offense.
Key Facts
- State: Missouri
- Category: Sex Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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